Workforce Commission approves emergency rule to speed benefits

The Texas Workforce Commission unanimously approved emergency rules today to allow jobless Texans who are exhausting their unemployment benefits to get a 13-week extension.

The commission late last week had said it would expedite the extension checks, a change from agency staff’s initial assessment that it could take months for the additional benefits to kick in. The staff had said that delay would be necessitated by programming complex federal regulations into the system.

But commission Chairman Tom Pauken said after he learned of the potential gap in benefits, he instructed staff to find a way to get the system operational by the end of July.

Gov. Rick Perry’s staff also had said his office instructed the agency to work with the U.S. Department of Labor to find a way to get the checks into unemployed Texans’ hands quicker.

The federal government then agreed to temporarily defer some requirements, according to the state commission.

The extra 13-week extension is paid for under the federal stimulus package and will mean up to an additional $380 million in benefit payments. The extension is for people who are exhausting regular and emergency benefits after being on unemployment for 59 weeks.

More than 15,000 Texans are expected to exhaust those benefits by the end of July. By November, the commission estimates as 100,000 people could exhaust their benefits and be eligible for the additional 13-week extension.

This extension is separate from another $555 million in unemployment money that would have been available to Texas if officials had agreed to expand benefits. Perry opposed the benefit expansion and the state didn’t take the money.